Science of Psychology Past Notes PDF

Science of Psychology 9/12/24 Thursday, September 12, 2024 11:30 AM Science Vocabulary - External validity ○ The degree to which a study's participants, stimuli, and procedures adequately reflect the world as it is ○ How applicable the study is to the real worl...

Science of Psychology 9/12/24 Thursday, September 12, 2024 11:30 AM Science Vocabulary - External validity ○ The degree to which a study's participants, stimuli, and procedures adequately reflect the world as it is ○ How applicable the study is to the real world ○ "Would it work not only for the researchers but for the general population?" - Demand characteristics ○ Cues in a study that might indicate expected or desirable behaviors in the setting ○ "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" - idea came from a breakfast brand to promote their business (Kelloggs) ○ "Biased" ○ Research is based on what they want to promote - Double-blind study ○ Technique of assigning participants to experimental conditions while keeping both participants and researchers unaware of who is assigned to which group ○ Both are unaware of the experimental conditions - Single-blind study ○ Participant is unaware of the experimental conditions being done to them ○ Experimental manipulation ○ Unaware of the hypothesis/what the experiment is for ○ Given a vague idea ○ Example: placebo medicine experiment 6 Principles of Scientific Thinking 1. Rule-out Rival Hypothesis ○ Have alternative explanations excluded ○ Make sure you are able to rule out any other potential explanations to avoid confusion ○ Multiple choice exam, you cancel out the items you want to eliminate for your hypothesis 2. Correlation isn't Causation ○ Can we be sure that A causes B? ○ Tease apart antecedent factors ○ How to infer causation in particular studies? ○ In conducting experiments, we cannot totally conclude the cause and effect but the correlation 3. Falsifiability ○ Are there ways to show an evidence against a claim? ○ Proof, backup information/data to support the claim and convince the audience ○ If you cannot falsify a statement, then it is not scientific 4. Replicability ○ Can the results be observed again in other studies? ○ Boost the confidence of the theory ○ If it is true, then it should be observable and replicable, not only just for you but for others ○ What is researched is seen/experienced not only by you but by others as well 5. Extraordinary Claims require extraordinary evidence 6. Occam's Razor ○ Does a simpler explanation fit the data just as well? ○ The more simple the explanation, the better No inference in descriptive research, simply just describing Inference - question is given and a statement is given to infer to the question Psychological Research Methods Descriptive Methods - Goal: Describe a phenomenon ○ Observation § Naturalistic and laboratory ○ Surveys and interviews ○ Case studies - Example: Polls on political preferences and television subscription - Does not answer how and why the phenomenon occur - Descriptive methods lead to the formation of testable hypotheses Naturalistic Observation - Goal: Watching the behavior in their normal environment without control or manipulation of the environment - Advantage: Realistic picture of behavior - Disadvantage ○ Observer effect § Tendency of people to behave differently when they know they are being observed ○ Participant observation § A naturalistic observation in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed (to reduce observer effect) ○ Observer bias § Tendency of observers to see what they expect to see § You pay more attention/notice more what you want to see ○ Blind observers § People who do not know what the research question is (to reduce observer bias) Laboratory Experiment - Goal: Watching behavior in a laboratory setting (controlled environment; may be conducted as part of an *experiment) - Advantage ○ Control over environment and allows use of specialized equipment - Disadvantage ○ Artificial situation; may result in artificial behavior Case Study - Goal: study of one individual in great detail - Advantages ○ Tremendous amount of detail - Disadvantage ○ Cannot be applicable to others, or cannot be generalized Survey - Goal: Researchers ask a series of questions about the topic under study - Basis of statistics - Given to representative sample to infer to the target population; ability to measure a large number of covert attributes - Have to ensure that the representative sample/results are meaningful/accurate and not biased - Advantages: ○ Data from large numbers of people; study covert behaviors - Disadvantages: ○ Researchers have to ensure representative sample or the results are not meaningful; people are not always accurate (courtesy bias) Correlation - Goal: Measure of the relationship between two variables - Measures of two variables go to into a mathematical formula and produce a correlation coefficient (r), which represents: ○ Direction of the relationship (+/-) ○ Strength of the relationship (-1.0 - 1.0) ○ The closer to +1.00 or -1.00, the stronger the relationship between the variables (no correlation = 0.0; perfect correlation = -1.00 or +1.00) - Positive Correlation ○ Variables are related in the same direction § As one increases, the other increases § As one decreases, the other decreases § Ex. As more hours spent in studying, the grade is higher - Negative Correlation ○ Variables are related in opposite direction § As on increases, the other1 decreases § Ex. As more hours spent on computer games, the lower the grade - Correlation does not automatically imply causation Experiment - A deliberate manipulation of a variable to see whether corresponding changes in behavior result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationships - Operational definition ○ Definition of a variable of interest that allows it to be directly measured ○ Example: aggressive play - number of novel ways on hitting - Independent variable ○ The variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter - Dependent variable ○ The variable in an experiment that represents the measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment - Variable A—> Variable B - Experimental group ○ Subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the independent variable (ex. Experimental group: watch TV) - Control group ○ Subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment (controls for confounding variables) § Ex. no group: no TV Plotting correlations: More dispersed = closer to 0 More closer to each other = closer to 1 Downward / Upward = - / + Example: